Russian ballet needs protecting from the West?

[loveclassics]

According to the Spectator blog culturehousedaily,  "the Nigel Farage of Russian cultural politics, Nikolai Tsiskaridze" has said that ballet should be isolated from the 'half-trained' West for its protection.  Well it's one point of view - what does everyone else think?

 

Linda

[Bruce Wall]

Oh, that Nikolai ... He does love a good taunt does he not?   Still, the sweep of that glorious Georgian mane is always .... how does one say .... intriguing.  Both he and Farage do have smiles that seem to charm many. 

Edited February 21, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Coated]

Oddly, the expression half-trained makes me think of of dancers like Watson, Guillem and Osipova who transcendent mere training with personal expression, inert talent and charisma. Not sure that I want ballet to be protected from these forces of artistry.

[Tony Newcombe]

My own personal feeling is that Russian Ballet does need protecting. Namely from Tsiskaridse and Gergiev.

[toursenlair]

Oddly, the expression half-trained makes me think of of dancers like Watson, Guillem and Osipova who transcendent mere training with personal expression, inert talent and charisma. Not sure that I want ballet to be protected from these forces of artistry.

 

I'm thinking you meant "innate" talent?

[LinMM]

Well it's a laugh a minute here this morning so far!!

[Coated]

Heh, indeed I did. Oops.

[Nina G.]

Nikolai Tsiskaridze should be reminded that the West brought ballet to Russia. Can someone give him a History of Ballet book please.

[MAB]

First of all it should be noted that the article from which the quote is taken is written by Ismene Brown, who has a personal fixation about Nikolai Tsiskaridze and has in the past written about him in terms that most would consider libellous.  Ms Brown writes a lot about Russia, almost always in derogatory terms, and in this article she is clearly attempting to put her own spin on a situation that wiser commentators would read in a completely different way.

 

Russia is in serious trouble at present with current sanctions rendering the rouble next to worthless so surely the paying of royalties to foreign choreographers, let alone embarking on new projects with them becomes an economic impossibility for the Bolshoi.  In my view this nationalistic slant is simply an exercise in face-saving and nothing like as sinister as Ms Brown likes to pretend. 

 

Apropos Mr Urin; I've read Russian media rumours that his job was under threat and indeed he recently made a major error of judgement that although not publicized, perhaps illustrates that someone with his limited knowledge of the international arts scene isn't ideal for the position he holds.  I've a feeling he won't be replaced in the immediate future though.

 

As to the rather inane remark by Mr Tsiskaridze I've often wondered if his nationalistic comments are to some degree the result of his being a native of a country with which Russia was recently at war .  Perhaps he feels it is in his best interest to underscore his commitment to the country where he has lived most of his life and to which he owes his glittering career.  I myself share an unfortunate character trait with Nikolai Tsiskaridze as we both have a tendency to speak first and think later, though in his case his often outrageous assertions have with time proved to be true, e.g. his criticism of the Bolshoi refurbishment where it was later discovered that huge sums of money were unaccounted for.

 

Unlike many of his colleagues, Mr Tsiskaridze has worked outside of Russia and in particular he formed a mutually enriching relationship with the Paris Opera Ballet, he has also danced in a whole range of works by western choreographers from MacMillan to Forsythe so take that rather odd remark with a pinch of salt (I would have liked to have read the context in which he said it by the way).

 

Perhaps I should add there is one role he covets hugely and would come out of retirement for and it's one by our very own Sir Fred:  Mrs Tiggywinkle in The Tales of Beatrix Potter.

[LinMM]

Thanks MAB for your more informative post

[Melody]

I'm a bit surprised that Ismene Brown gives him so much publicity if she really dislikes him so much, because he seems to thrive on the notoriety.

 

This is the link to her blog, by the way; it says that not only does he think Russian ballet should be protected from western influences (sez the guy who just danced in Ashton's Fille....), but also that western companies should be paying Russia royalties for the privilege of dancing the Petipa classics - as though Petipa wasn't French. If the Stepanov notation of those ballets hadn't been taken out of Russia, it's not clear they'd have survived, so I'm not sure who should be thanking who. There's also a link at the bottom of the blog to the original article in Russian.

 

http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2014/12/28_Save_Russian_ballet_from_half-trained_West%2C_says_Tsiskaridze.html

[zxDaveM]

put it this way, when taking a few curtain calls pics of him with the ever lovely Maria Alexandrova, he was cropped out....

[FLOSS]

The Russians have a long and glorious history of ambivalence towards the West which predates the reign of Peter the Great and his policy of enforced westernisation. In the nineteenth century it was expressed in cultural as well as political terms. You were either a slavophile or a westerniser.The slavophiles were Russians who emphasised their indigenous culture and their links with other Slavic peoples.Turgenev and Tchaikovsky were two of the most prominent westernisers. Mr T's reported comments seem to be little more than part of the long standing struggle for the Russian soul.It is ironic that the composer of the ballets that Mr T clearly regards as part of the Russian legacy that needs protection from exploitation by the West were not merely choreographed by a French man but composed by a man who, in his own lifetime, was criticised for being a western rather than a truly russian composer.

[MAB]

Perhaps I should have included a reference to the actual current rate of the rouble.  It is 0.010 of the UK£, which renders commissioning new works and paying royalties next to impossible.  I expect they will now struggle to pay David Hallberg's salary so don't be too surprised if the company parts company with him before too long.

[Two Pigeons]

I agree that there is a lot of history here but may I be really controversial and suggest that with some of the performances I have seen on YouTube this might be a two way street.  Could it also be that Western Ballet needs some protection from some Russian reinterpretation?

 

I do wonder what Sir Fred would have thought of the recent renderings of Marguerite and Armand.

[Bruce Wall]

I agree that there is a lot of history here but may I be really controversial and suggest that with some of the performances I have seen on YouTube this might be a two way street.  Could it also be that Western Ballet needs some protection from some Russian reinterpretation?

 

I do wonder what Sir Fred would have thought of the recent renderings of Marguerite and Armand.

 

I agree with your supposition, Two Pigeons, but often think that such matters go well beyond national boundaries.  So often I find good is good and bad is, sadly, unfortunate no matter where you might - at any particular point in time - be sitting/standing.  No one particular nation has I think a steel clad defense.  Such phenomena are surely universal at a certain point.  The presentations of the works must speak for themselves even when sadly a choreographer/composer (either themselves or via established representatives) are not effectively able to be adequately heard.

 

In reference too to MAB's prudent point in Item No. 14 above, I also wonder how long it will be before certain key balletic artists from long established Russian companies will find themselves forced to consider concrete permanent offers in countries far away from their families given the rout now appearing via Putin's determined actions/isolationism.  History will surely tell whether or not he is, in fact, a devilish advocate.  I myself somehow doubt we will ever see Lukina return to the Bolshoi fold now that she is established with the National Ballet of Canada and both Smirnova and Chudin are guesting for a second consecutive year with ABT.  I would imagine there must be a certain economic - and as MAB suggests perhaps a future artistic - pull on their part to remain abroad.  Osipova and Hallberg are safe, of course, in the sense that they already have outside commitments/diverse opportunities.  I wonder, given the alarming current state of matters, if we might see Parrish move on - or even perhaps return to his homeland - at a certain point because of it.  Certainly as fine a compnay as Northern Ballet - in whose celebratory gala he is proudly appearing - would welcome him into their burgeoning fold.  Such an assignment might well serve both ends. 

Edited February 22, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[loveclassics]

I'd like to see Xander back at the RB.  Under a different AD from before, I doubt his talents will be overlooked and underused this time.

 

Linda

[MAB]

Sorry Mr Wall, I was so concentrated on the Bolshoi I clear forgot about Britain's export to the Kirov.

Edited February 22, 2015 by MAB

[Bruce Wall]

The Mariinsky is going to Japan in November and December of this year.  I'm assuming the guarantees will prove profitable for them ... and in Japan there will be less political concerns (given that they are not involved in the current sanctions, etc.).

 

The casting for the Tokyo stint is ALREADY announced!  Nice to see Parish so principally featured.

 

Tokyo
 
Jewels　11/26
Emeralds Shrinkina, Sergeyev, Brilyova,  Belyakov.
Rubies  Batoeva, Kim, Kondaurova
Diamonds, Shapran, Askerov.
 
Legend of Love

11/27　Lopatkina, Somova, Yermakov, Smekalov
11/28　Tereshkina, Shirinkina, Shyklyarov, Zverev

 

Romeo & Juliet

11/30 Somova, Shklyarov
12/1 Tereshikina, Parish
12/2 Shapran, Askerov
 
Swan Lake
12/4 Somova & Kim,
12/5 Skorik & Parish,
12/5 Lopatkina & Korsutsev,
12/6 Kondaurova & Askerov

Edited February 22, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[MAB]

In an earlier post I said that I would have liked some context for that remark by Tsiskaridze and this morning received an email from a Russian friend (a professional interpreter/translator) that gives a more nuanced view of what actually was said.

 

Translation from RIA-Novosti: 

Tsiskaridze believes that Russian ballet should be safeguarded from interference by “half-trained” Westerners. They don’t have there such experienced state institutions, which can teach music or ballet art on such a high level.

“Around the world they keep replicating Russian classics under their own names. If anywhere in the world you see posters: “Swan Lake”, “Don Quixote”, “La Bayadere” - it means that some man took a Russian production, changed 3-4 steps, swapped left with right - and claims it as his own. And he makes money! Russia doesn’t get a penny. They also dare to teach us how to do it. It’s them who should learn from us”, Tsiskaridze added."

[Sim]

Somehow this doesn't improve his statement for me.

[John Mallinson]

MAB's friend's translation is very similar to the one quoted by Ismene Brown in her blog piece which did indeed give the context and a reference to gazeta.SPb.

[LinMM]

I wonder ......though please forgive naïveté in Russian Politics in advance.....if there is some political influence behind these remarks .....in the sense that unfortunately Russia seems to be moving backwards just at the minute with Putin in charge and seems to be more reactionary to the West in general .....back to the bad old days it seems.....(if only we had given Russia more support when they wanted to look more to the West ...before Putin.........but for another Forum I think)

 

What I'm trying to say is that do the Political Powers that be in Russia have strong influence over their Artistic Institutions again as they used to? I'm hoping it hasn't got to the stage there where spying on artists and monitoring of their views has restarted. Though I realise this could just be part of my western paranoia so to speak.

[Bruce Wall]

I wonder ......though please forgive naïveté in Russian Politics in advance.....if there is some political influence behind these remarks .....in the sense that unfortunately Russia seems to be moving backwards just at the minute with Putin in charge and seems to be more reactionary to the West in general .....back to the bad old days it seems.....(if only we had given Russia more support when they wanted to look more to the West ...before Putin.........but for another Forum I think)

 

What I'm trying to say is that do the Political Powers that be in Russia have strong influence over their Artistic Institutions again as they used to? I'm hoping it hasn't got to the stage there where spying on artists and monitoring of their views has restarted. Though I realise this could just be part of my western paranoia so to speak.

 

Well, it seems that it has gotten to the point - just on the surface of it - where Grigorovitch is once again ruling the Bolshoi roost .... or at least so it seems.  (Might that be a marker in favour of an ultimate Tsiskaridze appointment - given that he's such a Grigorovitch cheerleader?)  In terms of the high profile Bolshoi items during the season it certainly appears as if those artists that Filin brought in (Smirnova and Chudin for example) and even Lantratov - not to mention any 'Western' influence whose inclusion Filin was so keen in promoting - appear to be getting something of a cold shoulder.  There can be no question but that it has been the season of Rodin (and I mean no assertion against the dancer in saying that.  Not at all.)   It's only that he lies firmly placed in the Tsiskaridze/Grigorovitch camp's favour.  Urwin's comments in I. Brown's most recent interview with him (and I applaud the stealth of her questions) were certainly most telling at the end about the overall state of this particular slice of Denmark. 

Edited February 23, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[MAB]

To claim that Yuri Grigorovich, a frail 88 year old year old, rules the roost at the Bolshoi is frankly ludicrous.

 

Rodin?  thought he's been dead these past hundred years, remarkable sculptor, never knew he could dance.

 

If however you meant Denis Rodkin I imagine his height and bearing make him perfect for the heroic Grigorovich roles and though I'm aware his ballets cut little ice with British critics he is adored by Moscow audiences.

 

I thought I had explained in earlier posts the economic necessity of dropping the western works.  Once again, the rouble is currently worth £0.001, exactly how are they going to maintain those recently acquired works if they can't pay the choreographers?

 

As for Urwin, sorry but I don't know who that is, perhaps you could enlighten me.

 

Nikolai Tsikaridze owes his career to Grigorovich who lobbied for his entrance into both the Bolshoi school and company.  You may call it cheerleading, I prefer to call it loyalty.

[Bruce Wall]

To claim that Yuri Grigorovich, a frail 88 year old year old, rules the roost at the Bolshoi is frankly ludicrous.

 

Rodin?  thought he's been dead these past hundred years, remarkable sculptor, never knew he could dance.

 

If however you meant Denis Rodkin I imagine his height and bearing make him perfect for the heroic Grigorovich roles and though I'm aware his ballets cut little ice with British critics he is adored by Moscow audiences.

 

I thought I had explained in earlier posts the economic necessity of dropping the western works.  Once again, the rouble is currently worth £0.001, exactly how are they going to maintain those recently acquired works if they can't pay the choreographers?

 

As for Urwin, sorry but I don't know who that is, perhaps you could enlighten me.

 

Nikolai Tsikaridze owes his career to Grigorovich who lobbied for his entrance into both the Bolshoi school and company.  You may call it cheerleading, I prefer to call it loyalty.

 

Oh, dear MAB, I completely bow to your more acute knowledge on these Russian political/fiscal matters.  I fear I typed this while trying to write a report - one that in fact I'm still struggling with.  As you quite rightly seem to suggest, I shouldn't have bothered.  It was obviously 'ludicrous' to do so.  Your points are well taken.  I did mean Rodkin ... you are quite right and, of course, the other name was Urin.  I'm sorry that a 'w' found its way in there.  I'm sincerely sorry you couldn't make sense of it.  My fingers I fear are clumsy - as seemingly dyslexic as my brain - especially when under the kind of pressure I currently find myself under.  The blog I referred to you can find here.  Enough said.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Melody]

I assume that these comments were meant to be self-serving, with a look to his own future. I mean, being head of the Vaganova Academy is a prestigious appointment, but it doesn't put him in charge of an actual company and it isn't in Moscow where the political power resides. So presumably every so often we'll be hearing something from him that serves to remind everyone that he's still alive and kicking and terribly concerned about the future of Russian ballet, and also miraculously in tune with the political power brokers of the day, which at the moment is more than a little anti-Western.

 

By the way, does anyone know what's become of Altynai Asylmuratova, who was shouldered aside so Tsiskaridze could have that job? She doesn't seem to be on the list of people at the Mikhailovsky Theatre website any more.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Melody

[Amelia]

By the way, does anyone know what's become of Altynai Asylmuratova,

 

Altynai produced just recently, at the end of January, a ballet programme for Astana Ballet in the capital of Kazakhstan. (In fact, she was born in Kazakhstan and her father was a Kazakh dancer.)

The programme includes The Animated Garden from “Le Corsaire”, also Fokine’s small ballet pieces and some dances from Pavlova’s repertoire.

http://vechastana.kz/kultura/1001278-altynay-asylmuratova-postavit-miniatyury-dlya-truppy-astana-balet-v-stolitse/

[Amelia]

Nikolai Tsiskaridze should be reminded that the West brought ballet to Russia. Can someone give him a History of Ballet book please.

 

 Well, Nikolai has an outstanding personal library of books on ballet in Russian, French and English. For many years he was presenting ballet programmes on TV and wrote a lot of text himself. He is well-read and very knowledgeable not only about ballet but also about European history.

 

... it says that not only does he think Russian ballet should be protected from western influences (sez the guy who just danced in Ashton's Fille....), but also that western companies should be paying Russia royalties for the privilege of dancing the Petipa classics - as though Petipa wasn't French. 

 

Marius Petipa (1818-1910) came to Russia in 1847 as a 29-y-o dancer and stayed there. He realised himself as a great choreographer at the Mariinsky Theatre. True, he was French but 63 years out of 92 years of his life he lived and worked in St.Petersburg, was married (in succession) to two Russian women and is buried there:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Петипа,_Мариус_Иванович#mediaviewer/File:Tomb_of_Petipa.jpg

He gave a lot to Russia and Russia gave him and also meant a lot to him. I am sure that Tsiskaridze in his hot-headed remark didn’t mean people like Petipa in whose ballets he danced so many roles. In his interviews he always declared his admiration for Ashton, Béjart, Macmillan, Forsythe, not to mention Petit who made a ballet for him. For the first Vaganova graduation concert under his directorship Nikolai chose Bournonville’s “Le Conservatoire” and invited Danish teachers for rehearsals and teaching.

I tend to think that in his not perfectly worded interview Tsiskaridze meant those who misuse the Russian ballet legacy. IMHO.

 

Melody wrote:

“If the Stepanov notation of those ballets hadn't been taken out of Russia, it's not clear they'd have survived, so I'm not sure who should be thanking who.”

 

So who and what for in this particular case?

Edited February 24, 2015 by Amelia

[Melody]

Well, he's making this big deal about how the Petipa classics are Russian property (and so apparently western companies should be paying royalties to Russia for their use, although I've never heard of royalties being paid to a country for such a thing, just to the creator or his/her beneficiaries, never mind the issue of public domain after this long, but whatever...). But given the history of ballet in the Soviet Union, it wasn't clear that the classics were going to survive the revolution since ballet was considered an elitist pastime to entertain the aristocracy. So if Nikolai Sergeyev hadn't brought the Stepanov notations and all the other notes and whatnot with him when he fled to the west, it's quite possible they'd have been destroyed, and then a lot of knowledge would have been lost. As it happens, the classics did survive in Russia, at least in a Party-approved fashion, but it wasn't obvious for a while that even that was going to happen. But if there'd really been a crackdown on classical ballet in the Soviet Union, and if Sergeyev hadn't rescued all the documentation and mounted the ballets on western companies, it would have been a lot harder to reconstruct them.

 

So what I actually meant was that those ballets he's getting so possessive about were given a safe haven in the west at a time when that might have been their best hope of surviving. Which is something he could maybe bring himself to be a bit grateful for, rather than acting as though we stole them.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Melody

[Amelia]

Reply to the Post 30.

 

Dear Melody, we can agree with you on “Petipa issue”.  Although the law says that “if a work is produced as part of employment, then the first owner will normally be the company that is the employer of the individual who created the work”, this rule is not applicable to Petipa’s works. Why? Because the same law says: “Duration of copyright for literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works is 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies.” It is the same in UK and in Russia. So I agree with you that Tsiskaridze is mistaken here.

 

However, I disagree with your assessment of Sergeyev’s role. My question was partly provocative since I knew exactly what the reply might be. Your reply is based on assumptions.

Assumption 1: “... it wasn't clear that the classics were going to survive the revolution...”

Fact 1: the classics survived after the revolution (you accepted it) and were danced by new great ballerinas reared in surviving ballet schools. 

Assumption 2: “... if Sergeyev hadn't brought the Stepanov notations and all other ... it's quite possible they'd have been destroyed, and then a lot of knowledge would have been lost. “

Fact 2:  The remaining ballet notations were not burnt or shredded at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Mariinsky’s archive has survived.

Assumption 3: “ ... if there'd really been a crackdown on classical ballet in the Soviet Union, and if Sergeyev hadn't rescued all the documentation and mounted the ballets on western companies, it would have been a lot harder to reconstruct them.”

Fact 3: Thank God, there was no crackdown on classical ballet in the U.S.S.R. and the classics were preserved there by those who stayed and continued working in Petrograd: Fyodor Lopukhov, Agrippina Vaganova, Vladimir Ponomarev, Elizaveta Gerdt,  Alexander Shirayev. The latter was working with Petipa as the 2nd ballet-master and repetiteur and had the best memory of all ballets. Although he worked abroad in 1909-1917, had a school in London and supplied pupils to Pavlova’s company, he returned to Mariinsky in 1918 (ironically, when others left it), rolled up sleeves and worked in both the theatre and the school.

The classical ballet proved to be very resilient on Russian soil, which remained a "safe haven" for it - but Sergeyev and the notations taken by him did not play ANY role in the survival of classical ballets in Russia. 

Edited February 25, 2015 by Amelia

[alison]

Dear Melody, we can agree with you on “Petipa issue”.  Although the law says that “if a work is produced as part of employment, then the first owner will normally be the company that is the employer of the individual who created the work”, this rule is not applicable to Petipa’s works. Why? Because the same law says: “Duration of copyright for literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works is 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies.”

And that 70 years is fairly recent, anyway - I'm sure it used to be 50 around the end of last century. I'm not sure it would have applied in Russia in Petipa's time, though.

 

"Fact 3: Thank God, there was no crackdown on classical ballet in the U.S.S.R. and the classics were preserved there by those who stayed and continued working in Petrograd: Fyodor Lopukhov, Agrippina Vaganova, Vladimir Ponomarev, Elizaveta Gerdt,  Alexander Shirayev."

 

Until they started being tampered with during the Soviet era, of course - tampering which is still in evidence today. And then Nureyev was apparently unable to find anyone to reconstruct the last act of La Bayadère a mere 30-35 years after he'd danced in it. What happened about the Mariinsky's reconstructions of the original Sleeping Beauty and Bayadère? Weren't they based on the Stepanov notation?

[MAB]

In her otherwise excellent post. Amelia omitted to mention the role of Anatoly Lunacharsky, the first commissar for education whose passionate advocacy of the arts gave Russian ballet a powerful champion and friend who ensured the continuity of ballet in Russia.  As to notations, a great many did exist  but in most cases they were a kind of shorthand created more as an aide memoir for the choreographer.  They may well have existed, but unless someone could actually interpret them they were of historical value rather than practical use.  The ballets were in the main passed down by the traditional method with performers that had danced the ballets teaching them to the next generation.

 

Until they started being tampered with during the Soviet era, of course - tampering which is still in evidence today. And then Nureyev was apparently unable to find anyone to reconstruct the last act of La Bayadère a mere 30-35 years after he'd danced in it.

 

 

Frankly Alison I find that a bit rich seeing we have two threads running at present, one speculating about a new RB  production of Swan Lake and the other about SL nightmares.  There has been far more 'tampering' by western companies than Russian. 

 

I also don't understand Alison's Comment regarding Nureyev's Bayadere.  Nureyev reconstructed the last act for the RB in 1963 where it was premiered on 27th November.  He was twenty five years old at the time so I find the assertion that he had danced it '30-35' years before pretty off the wall to be frank.  Nureyev had a photographic memory and his reconstruction of a ballet he had danced in only a few years previously was remarkable for it's accuracy.  He did of course change the final tableau, did that count as western tampering, Russian tampering or perhaps Tartar tampering?  As far as I'm aware the only problem Nureyev had with his many productions of Russian classics was getting hold of the scores.